Cinderella
by CapriciousCaper
Summary: A cliché story with a twist set in 15th century feudal Japan. Pairing: Ita/Saku. AU. Non-massacre


Title: Cinderella

Summary: A cliché story with a twist set in 15th century feudal Japan. Mumei, an orphan with no name is brought into the house of influential trader and military weaponry supplier Haruno Toreda. She is renamed as Sakura and hidden away from the masses for fear that her pink hair will bring them trouble. At the age of twelve, the kind man who brought her in remarries and turns a blind eye to the treatment her new stepmother and stepsisters give her, reducing her to a status lower than that of a servant. The only comfort she has is a tiny Jade bead, embedded between her ribs with the tiniest of engravings. It matches a larger Jade carving Toreda has so far, allowed her to hide with a warning of never telling another soul, under pain of death.

She is convinced she shall forever remain the underdog of the Haruno household, doomed to never have the favor of the man named Haruno Toreda. Change comes in the form of a royal gathering to celebrate the winnings of the Northern Imperial Court, and the Noble Uchiha Clan's eldest son ready for a bride. Every woman, under law is required to come to the gathering for the esteemed Heir of the Uchiha Clan's pickings. Will things, as they always have been, finally change?

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairings: Itachi X Sakura

* * *

_11 Years ago_

_Her voice resonated in his mind over and over again as he trudged through muddy water and rain pelted down on his head. __It had rained as well, when he last saw her._

_"I am dying because of his will, she will only receive the same fate."_

_"Protect her for me, keep her safe."_

_"Swear on the love we once had, on the feelings you had for me, that you will never let that man know of my child."_

_"Please."_

_The red-rimmed eyes of the woman he loved and her dying breath were still vivid. The image of her pale face and the blue veins on her stark white flesh, her pleas, he could never say no to her and it was no different this time._

_He unfurled a tiny piece of paper he had taken from pouch. 幸せな家庭_

_Shiawase Katei_

_It matched the peeling signboard. Sighing, he reached out and rapped his knuckles against the door once, twice. The woman who opens the door has a haggard face, lined with deep crevices and greying skin. She is stooped and hunched over, her portly frame takes up nearly the entire frame of the door. She leads him in, talking about the little girl he had asked about in the letter._

_"Mumei is a very obedient child, very gentle and refined, a pretty little thing."_

_"Mumei?"_

_"Yes, yes we call her that. She has no name you see, even the woman that comes regularly... she seems to know the child but never tells us who she is, or what the child's name is."_

_"A woman?"_

_"Well a woman comes by about once a month, she was here about a week ago. She always stays for a few days of the week when she comes, helping around the area and sleeping in a room with Mumei."_

_The old woman walked over to a small door-less room with about ten children sharing the space. All of them were young and alike in appearance, but she stood out. Her pale pink hair shone even in the dim lighting of the candle, and was brightness came from the window._

_"Mumei, this gentleman here wants to meet you."_

_She gets up, hesitant and shy but he sees a small fire in her eyes that glint brighter with every step she took, and with every nervous shiver she had. The similarities she has with the woman are astounding. A straight nose, high and rounded cheek-bones and a small chin. Large eyes, greener than the finest pieces of jade drew him in, and he noticed with a start, the tiniest of metallic flecks in her eyes._

_The woman had not told him everything, this was a reason why he did not want to be responsible for her. She could be a liability, she already was a ticking time-bomb. But what could he do, he had already given her his word._

_"Does she have any belongings?"_

_"She was given a pretty jade carving from the woman, but she refuses to let me take a good look at it. Silly girl." She chuckles warmly._

_"I see." He hands her a small pouch, full of gold coins, and walks out the door with the child._

_"Your name is Sakura now, remember that."_

* * *

_4 Years Ago_

The sliding of the door takes his attention away from his thoughts and he turns to greet the person with a smile. His wife.

She smiles back at him, eyes a dark brown, lips thin and her pale skin as lustrous as when he first met her, with the exception of a few blemishes and fine lines. Her hair is coiled in a bun, a jade pin with gold chains and pearls hanging down securing it in place.

"Husband."

"Wife, how are my daughters?"

"They are well, with the exception of Karin."

He cocks his head to the side, curious at her tone. "Well tell me wife, what happened?"

She kneels down into a sitting position, ankles tucked under her bottom and hands placed on top of the other.

"Husband, I caught some of the servants talking badly about my Karin today, I don't blame them, she certainly has been less than ladylike and she has a tendency to whine and shriek more than necessary, unlike Tayuya she has always been a little more irrational and it is hard to placate her."

Nodding his head, he gestured toward her to carry on.

"I would like you to have a little talk with her, Tayuya and I understand that it is not for the father to guide the daughter's, but Karin has been very whiny as of late, and that Sakura girl..."

Taking care that his voice did not enter a defensive tone, he asked her, "What about her?".

"Well you see, Karin is so angry all the time because she feels it is unfair. Sakura is certainly a servant girl, she is neither your daughter nor a relative, I am so pleased that she is a personal servant to my two girls, cleaning their rooms and dressing both of them, she is a servant and should not have a room so close to ours, and so far from the servants quarters. Not to mention, her breeding is low, and yes she has done a spectacular job taking care of my servants, it is high time they have a new maid, one for each of them of course. Sakura will certainly still be cleaning their rooms, she will just have more to clean now, and of course her room would have to be given to the two new girls... but she could just stay in the servants quarters."

"It is a situation that benefits both sides, husband. Karin finds it utterly unfair too, that you are always treating Sakura so nicely, and she is at the cusp of womanhood so she is more antsy than usual, anything will drive her mad nowadays. I know how you hate the idea of giving Sakura to another household, but she is a servant. I think it best we start treating her like one, don't you agree?"

He knew very much what she was implying, but he didn't dislike the idea. Sakura, nearly thirteen was becoming a very beautiful girl, a definite reason as to why Karin was so antsy, as Meinu had put it, but at the same time, she was becoming an eyesore for his heart. She looked more, and more like her mother every day, and at the same time he was reminded of her father. It was like an angry, red-hot poker that continually branded the inside of his heart, the evidence that the woman no longer loved him.

Sighing, he nodded toward his wife and said, "Do as you think best wife, you are after all, running the house in my place now."

The self-satisfied, cat-ate-the-canary smile she left with did not go unnoticed by him.

His wife, newly-married was one of partial convenience. She was a somewhat attractive woman and had caught his eye on an early morning's day. Her witty banter and knowledge of the politics among other things intrigued him, and he soon realized that spending time with her alleviated his feelings of loss, sorrow and angry guilt to a degree that gave him a sense of normalcy. She helped him, remember that there was still a life he needed to live, and a duty he needed to do. She on the other hand, did indeed feel something for him, but she was a wary woman. From a small-clan out in one of the five mountains of Kyoto, she was from birth, an unlucky child. The clan of Iki, the breath of the Yang. It was a predominantly male practice and women were forbidden to train, or even learn the techniques. She was one of the few women that were born with the potential capacity for shinobi training. It was an honor, to be able to train, a gift to have the capacity, but in her clan, it was a shame.

She understood that better than anyone else and had so married early, about sixteen into the clan, an arranged marriage with a lower member with no future. A distant cousin, you may say. Unfortunately, as each year passed and she finally approached womanhood, at the first blood, her hair paled. Brightened into a reddish brown. Japanese were by nature, dark-haired, in the color spectrum of black and dark browns. Those of clan, who cultivated themselves, passed on generation after generation a unique mix of chakra, energy and life-force that altered the melanin levels and iris colors of a human being.

Such was her predicament, her dark brown hair lightened into a lighter brown, and finally a pale brownish-red. She was the only woman to have hair in that shade, and so she was thrown out for they suspected she had trained in secret. Resentment turned her into a bitter woman when she left, Karin in her belly and Tayuya in her arms. The two girls grew with dark red hair, a massive potential for them to learn the arts of the Shinobi, and one day if they were lucky, could be honored by the Emperor himself and enter the gateways of Heishi.

Heishi, a massive, absolutely enormous land hidden by the forests and mountains, led to a community of people. It was where the children of large clans went to train, gained status and honor, it was where smaller clans children, who showed talent stayed to hone their skills. It was place, Iki Meinu wanted her daughters to enter, and to achieve statuses, of at the very least Genin, so that they would have a much higher chance of nabbing a noble man of a good clan to marry into. They go to parties and social gatherings but it was rare that a clan member who was admitted into Heishi would join. And sometimes, when they did join, they weren't the most qualified or good shinobi of proper clans. Everyone knew that the shinobi clans were nobility, but they were exclusive nobility. The Hyuuga, Uchiha... the most esteemed of esteemed clans... their members only socialized and functions for shinobi of Heishi. That was how it was.

Toreda himself, ended up hiring instructors to train the beautifully, untalented girls. He didn't say a word to his wife of course, she might like him enough to marry him but she certainly would take offence to him criticizing his girls. Well the girls had another, four to five years before they passed the age of petal-ed maidens, and by then if they had not entered Heishi, an arranged marriage would be in order. They had time to learn.

And Sakura...

The twelve year-old girl... Toreda sighed and shook his head. Meinu had decided to turn her anger on her, there was nothing he could do that would justify his protecting her to the woman.

* * *

_Present_

Her hands were callused, her fingernails dirty and her cheeks rosy. Soft pink hair hidden under dirt and dark brown dye.

She smiled at the petite, brunette girl shining the silverware and cleaning the porcelain.

How long had she been in this home? And how long since she had been nearly abandoned by Toreda-sama? About four years she supposed. Four years of hard, hard work. Four years of rats, hard-wood beds and torn blankets. Four years of being looked down upon by Meinu and her daughters, their handmaidens... And she didn't doubt the next forty would be the same.

It wasn't all the worst, Toreda-sama still left her dishes of fine food when his wife was not watching, every year on her birthday he still gave her a little bit of jewelry, or cake, or, her favorite from this year, a beautiful dagger with an ornate, gilded handle.

Sakura had grown up tremendously in the past years, her hair had grown out and her body had begun shaping itself into womanly curves. This however meant, dirtier, raggedy clothes. Work that required more dirt on her face and hands, soot and dust that were never-ending from sun-up to sundown. It didn't matter how clean she kept herself, the two sisters were always helpful in dirtying her after she had finished the work in their rooms, and were only ever concerned about her hygiene when she had to bring them their clothes. Since their personal servants had arrived, she worked more outside the house than inside the house.

Sighing, she raked her fingers through her hair, trying to make it appear somewhat presentable before tying it back again, tighter to make sure that any remaining dust wouldn't come off. She washed her hands quickly in the sink, wiped her face clean with a washcloth and undid her kitchen apron.

The sensei had arrived again to instruct the two girls, it was a wonder he hadn't given up yet. Then again, she had seen him and Toreda-sama laugh and have tea and cakes together, so she figured they were old friends. Sakura picked up a tray with two pitchers, one with cold jasmine tea and the other with iced water, three plates, two of which had fresh fruit and one that had buns and strawberry jam.

She smiled, walked to the backroom where they were training and opened the door quietly so as not to startle the girls. A soft whistling alerted her and she ducked with admirable agility, still holding onto the tray and turned to see a shiny, little senbon embedded a good inch into the wood. She turned back to glare disapprovingly at the man, but instead met a laughing, eyes full of mirth sensei.

"Break!"

The two redheads turned, eyes eager towards sensei, but the moment they saw Sakura, their eyes narrowed and their lips curled. Their handmaidens, sitting by the side and chattering stopped when their mistresses paused to take a break, and their eyes, narrowed too when they spotted her.

Sakura however, was feeling very opposite.

The two girls looked utterly, hilarious. They looked so silly, it shouldn't have been funny but it was.

Karin's hair, in her usual half-neat, half-messy fashion, was even messier than usual. Her makeup was mussed by all her sweat and her clothing prepared especially for training was falling of her shoulders, thanks to how heavy the embroidery was. Tayuya, on the other hand was dressed more appropriately in a teal vest and top combo with long billowing sleeves. She still had a skirt on, but she wore pants underneath, a big difference next to Karin's sorry excuse for a training outfit.

"Sakura..." Karin said, a voice dripping with disgust. "About time you arrived."

"Unlike you, we actually have a future to work for." Tayuya continued.

"As usual, you look messy and dirty..." Karin muttered, "No matter how you clean yourself, you could never truly be above a servants level..."

"Such a pity... isn't it sensei?"

When the two girls received no reply, the turned to realize that sensei had taken his food and disappeared, most likely in the gardens enjoying his solitude. Scowling, they turned back only to realize Sakura herself was gone as well.

* * *

Aragi Hatsuki sipped his cold tea. The swishing of fabric beside him alerted him to her and he moved a little to the side to make way for her.

They sat in silence as she munched on a stale bun, content to let him start the conversation.

"You shouldn't let them say those things to you Sakura."

_"You shouldn't let them say those things to you little girl."_

She smiled.

"It doesn't hurt anymore sensei."

"So you say, but I know how tough you really are little petal-chan."

"Sensei! I've grown at least a foot since the first time you saw me."

He chuckled, his long white hair swaying in the wind.

"Ma... I suppose you have haven't you?"

It had been... when she was twelve. The first time sensei had arrived was the first time the girls begun treating her cruelly. Unkind taunts became nastier from the first words he spoke.

_"Is this pretty little girl going to be learning as well?"_

They had been jealous and angry, petty and irrational.

They threw their food at her, poured their iced tea all over her and threw her out of the room only when she apologized for being so ugly and pathetic.

_"SAY IT! SAY IT! Or you'll never, ever be allowed to get up, YOU'LL KNEEL FOREVER YOU ORPHAN!"_

_"I-I..."_

_"You what!?" Karin had stomped over and grabbed her hair, yanking her face up to meet hers. "WHAT!?" She screamed._

It was at that moment that sensei had interfered.

_"I'll teach you, you don't have to use it but at least you will know."_

She never had to use her physical skills. Instead, she learned to let he feelings flow away.

_"Because they aren't worth it, repeat after me petal-chan, because they aren't worth it."_

_"Be...cause.. they aren't...worth it."_

"I tell myself that everyday you know sensei?"

He crinkled his eye at her.

"You've always been a clever girl, you picked up what I taught you much faster than your two sisters."

"Hah, I still don't know how you figured it out sensei."

"Of course you do. You know just as well as I do what it was in their behavior that gave them away."

Sakura smiled at him.

"Hatsuki-sensei..."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for being my friend."

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

"You deserved one petal-chan."

* * *

Okay!

So, what do you think?

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Rate and review PLEASE. :)


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